From ASM Microbe 2022 in Washington, DC, Heran joins TWiM to discuss her career and her work on the agent of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson Guest: Heran Darwin

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• Honey badger of pathogens (EMBO Rep)
• Pup-proteasome system (PNAS)
• Cytokinin signaling in M. tuberculosis (mBio)
• Bandwagoning (EMBO Rep)
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Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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TWiM explains how spindle-shaped Archaeal viruses evolved from rod-shaped ancestors to package a larger genome, and transcriptional recording by CRISPR acquisition from RNA.

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• From rods to spindles (Cell)
• Spindle-shaped virus movie (Cell)
• Bacteria that record (Science)
• Transcriptional recording with CRISPR (Nature)
• Letters read on TWiM 266
• TWiM Listener survey

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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TWiM explains the discovery of hotspots of genetic variation containing reservoirs of anti-phage systems in E. coli phages and their parasitic satellites, and pathogen desiccation tolerance promoted by hydrophilins.

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• Phage and satellite antiviral systems (Cell Host Micro)
• Hydropilins promote desiccation tolerance (Cell Host Micro)
• Letters read on TWiM 265
• TWiM Listener survey

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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TWiM reveals that the atypical antipsychotic quetiapine promotes multiple antibiotic resistance in E. coli, and treatment with Bifidobacterium lactis probiotic benefits patients with coronary artery disease.

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Links for this episode:

• Antipsychotic promotes antimicrobial resistance (J Bact)
• Probiotic benefits patients with coronary artery disease (mSystems)
• B. lactis and Alzheimer's in mice (Eur J Nutr)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

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TWiM explains the use of lavender oil to disrupt Listeria biofilms, and how treatment of catheters with liquid silicone reduces associated urinary tract infections.

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• Lavender oil prevents biofilms (Lett Appl Micro)
• Silicone-infused catheters reduce infection (eLife)
• Viable but not culturable (TWiM 179)
• Letters read on TWiM 263
• TWiM Listener survey

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to [email protected]

TWiM welcomes new host Petra, and explains how a small protein helps ensure that E. coli utilizes a preferred carbon source, and a screening strategy to identify inhibitors of the type IV secretion system that is essential for virulence of a variety of bacterial pathogens.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, Michele Swanson, and Petra Levin

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• A small protein regulates carbon utilization (PNAS)
• Inhibitors of type IV secretion systems (mBio)
• Letters read on TWiM 262

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

Mark returns to TWiM to join in a discussion of soil microbiota as game-changers in restoration of degraded lands, and discovery of a centimeter-long bacterium, the biggest yet discovered.

Guest: Mark O. Martin

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Links for this episode:

• Game-changing soil microbiota (Science)
• A World Without Soil by Jo Handlesman
• A World Without Soil video (YouTube)
• Centimeter-long bacteria (bioRxiv)
• How large can a bacteria get? (YouTube)
• Giant bacteria (YouTube)
• Three faces of Thiomargarita (Small Things Considered)
• The microbe that could be seen (Small Things Considered)
• Energetics of the eukaryotic edge (Small Things Considered)
• A lakeside tale (Small Things Considered)
• Letters read on TWiM 261

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

In this food-centric TWiM, we reveal the microbiomes of carnivorous vulture bees and of Gala apples from all over the world.

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• Microbiome of vulture bees (mBio)
• Bees previously in TWiM 245
• Microbiome of Gala apples (Envir Micro)
• Apple flower microbiome (mBio)
• TWiM Listener survey

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to [email protected]

Mark Martin returns to TWiM for a discussion of the frightening global burden of bacterial antibiotic resistance, and a solution to the problem of daylight nitrogen fixation in a cyanobacterium, despite the incompatibility of nitrogenase with oxygen produced during photosynthesis.

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Links for this episode:

• Global bacterial antimicrobial resistance (Nat Micro)
• Cancer moon shot (NCI)
• When antibiotics don't work (TED)
• Cyanobacterium buoyancy (Nat Micro)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]

TWiM explains how bacterial symbionts regulate tick blood feeding activity, and the reasons why antibiotics exist.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Elio Schaechter, and Michael Schmidt

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Links for this episode:

• Symbionts help ticks to feed (Cell Host Microbe)
• Why do antibiotics exist? (mBio)
• Shorter is still better (J Hosp Med)
• Shorter vs longer antibiotic courses (J Hosp Med)
• Francis Tally and tigecycline (Clin Inf Dis)

Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission.

Send your microbiology questions and comments to [email protected]